Seiryū, whose fists were hardening, vowed not to let Kurenai get too smug!
Turning to look at the quietly laughing Kurenai, Seiryū put on a gentle expression. "Kurenai, you haven't done much practice lately, have you? That's not good. Written exam scores are important. Your big brother here has decided to tutor you again before school starts. Hmm... come to my room tonight. I've prepared a new workbook just for you!"
"Hu... huh!?" Kurenai froze for a moment, then her expression shifted from shock to panic, and finally to pale terror... Her eyes were filled with fear, as if she'd seen hell itself!
Seeing her expression, Seiryū let out a soft laugh. "Hehe."
Of course, he was just trying to scare the little girl. She had been working hard these past few days, and since she even gave him a gift, he only intended to give her a little fright.
You were laughing earlier, right? Are you still laughing now?
Kurenai looked wronged, nearly in tears. "..."
Jiraiya, Minato, and Kushina watched this scene, a bit helpless.
But they were already used to it.
Seiryū was outstanding in every regard, except that he was occasionally unreliable.
While doting on Kurenai, he would also tease her from time to time, as if teasing her had become a form of daily entertainment... Well, this must be their sibling dynamic. It was rather amusing!
Kurenai, unable to hold back her anger, turned her body away from Seiryū and treated the watermelon in her hand as if it were him. She took large bites, mumbling as she chewed, "Wretched Seiryū, wretched, wretched, I'll bite you to death!"
She hated solving practice problems the most. It was absolute torture.
That wretched Seiryū actually used it to threaten her.
If she had known, she wouldn't have used her allowance to buy him that ninja tool pouch. It was infuriating!
"This melon is really sweet!" Seiryū pretended not to hear anything, happily eating his watermelon and feeling quite pleased.
He had to admit, it was really sweet.
When you're in a good mood, everything tastes better!
After finishing his slice, Jiraiya turned to the others. "I've got a mission this afternoon, so I won't be staying here."
Calling it a mission was a bit of a stretch. It was more like going off to "gather material."
His half-finished manuscript, The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja, had been called childish by the old man, which made him feel wronged. So he wanted to refine it even more.
Hmm, "gathering material" was actually prep work for his next book.
If he hadn't taken Seiryū as a disciple and helped develop the Rasengan, he would've left Konoha long ago to continue searching for the "Child of Prophecy."
Now that the Rasengan was nearly perfected and Seiryū would be starting school soon, he planned to leave Konoha in a few days and resume his journey.
"Understood, Sensei."
Minato and Seiryū responded in unison.
They already knew Jiraiya would be leaving Konoha soon.
Among the current Sannin, only Orochimaru frequently stayed in the village.
Jiraiya was preparing to leave.
However, the others weren't in a hurry.
Kushina still needed to teach Minato Sealing Techniques, as a safeguard in case the seal on her body changed... While they were practicing, Seiryū leaned in curiously and asked, "Senpai, Kushina-nee... since I'm also part of the Uzumaki clan, can I learn Sealing Techniques with you?"
Sealing Techniques might be the key to replicating Bakudō in this world.
Naturally, Seiryū needed to master them, and this was the perfect opportunity.
More skills never hurt, and with his talent, he learned things quickly. He had yet to encounter any problems with spreading himself too thin.
Minato paused. "You want to learn Sealing Techniques? Isn't it a bit too early?"
Kushina added, "It's true you're talented, but you're still too young. You don't have enough Chakra in your body yet to start learning Sealing Techniques."
"Sealing Techniques require a large Chakra reserve to support them. Even if you learned them now, you wouldn't be able to use them effectively."
Seiryū's identity as an Uzumaki clan member was already confirmed.
Since Kushina was willing to teach Minato the clan's Sealing Techniques, naturally she wouldn't refuse to teach Seiryū, who was part of the clan.
But again, Seiryū was still too young and didn't yet have the capacity to study Sealing Techniques.
Sealing Techniques required massive Chakra as a foundation. Without it, their true power couldn't be drawn out.
She planned to wait until Seiryū graduated from the Academy and became a Genin before teaching him the Uzumaki clan's Sealing Techniques.
"..." Seiryū felt a slight headache. Was it his fault for being young?
But he wasn't willing to give up. With his obsessive nature, he felt uneasy if he couldn't replicate Bakudō immediately.
People without OCD wouldn't understand that feeling.
When it got bad, he could lose his appetite and focus only on that one thing. So Seiryū argued, "Just because it's not useful right now doesn't mean I can't master it early. There's an idiom—'The early bird gets the worm.' Learning it sooner lets me keep up with everyone else."
He paused, then added to strengthen his argument, "Kakashi and Asuma are already learning elemental Ninjutsu, but I haven't started yet. I'm already falling behind!!"
"..."
The early bird gets the worm...
Minato and Kushina both twitched at the corners of their mouths.
With your talent, you dare call yourself an early bird?
Give the other kids your age a break! How could you say something like that?
Kushina couldn't help rubbing her temples. "Didn't you just learn the Rasengan? That's an A-rank Ninjutsu. And you even developed Monster Strength Fist on your own. Most Jōnin can't even learn those."
"Based on that alone, you're already miles ahead of your peers..."
The greatest genius she had seen was her own boyfriend, but now she felt even he fell short compared to Seiryū...
It seemed Seiryū had very little awareness of his own talent...
"That's different," Seiryū waved his hand and sighed. "Being number one comes with a lot of pressure. I'm not the only one training hard. Every single one of them sees me as a target to surpass. I'm under immense pressure..."
"To make sure they don't surpass me, I have to work even harder!"
"And also, as a member of the Uzumaki clan, if I don't know our clan's Sealing Techniques, people will laugh at me later."
"Oh, and then there's the Uchiha clan. They always say that once they awaken the Sharingan, they'll dominate me. How can we, the Uzumaki clan, let them overshadow us?"
Seiryū spoke seriously. "That's why I need to learn Sealing Techniques. The Uzumaki clan's Sealing Techniques are the coolest, and I want to prove that!"
"Stare~" Kurenai, probably the one who understood Seiryū's personality best, looked at him suspiciously.
She felt like Seiryū was just talking nonsense. He didn't want to prove anything.
He just purely wanted to learn Sealing Techniques...
Seiryū was way too competitive.
(To be continued.)